The East Tennessee Community Design Center has created a perfect outing for you. The inaugural Urban Home & Garden Tour kicks off from 5:30-8 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 5, and continues from 11 a.m.-4 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 6.

The tour provides an opportunity for both residents and visitors to explore local buildings and their aesthetics.

“Attendees will enjoy residential buildings that are rich with history and fresh with original design and charm,” says Daryl Johnson, ETCDC board member and Urban Home & Garden Tour committee chair.

The tour begins at a check-in station at the historic Phoenix Building, 418 S. Gay St., and it offers access through downtown Knoxville spaces with extraordinary outdoor components. Featured properties on the tour include Crown Court Condos, Emporium Lofts, Gallery Lofts, Jackson Ateliers, Kendrick Place, Marble Alley Lofts, The Carson and The Holston.

“This self-guided tour of downtown will allow individuals to see creative outdoor features in downtown Knoxville that will inspire participants to truly utilize the outdoor areas around their own homes and see what downtown has to offer as a residential option,” said Wayne Blasius, executive director for the East Tennessee Community Design Center.

Tickets are $30, and all proceeds will benefit the East Tennessee Community Design Center, a nonprofit organization that since 1969 has been bringing professional design and planning assistance to community and nonprofit groups. ETCDC receives pro bono design assistance from area architects, landscape architects, planners and other professionals.